Logging into fresh new media server install doesn't register the server

Plex Media Server
1

Server Version#: 1.42.2
Player Version#: 4.147.1

I’ve got lifetime subscription and usually run Plex media server on my macOS laptop. I now have a new linux desktop/server at home running NixOS and I want to drop the macOS’ one in favor of the new linux one but unfortunately I can’t at the moment.

This is the related NixOS configuration applied:

  nixpkgs.config.allowUnfreePredicate = pkg: builtins.elem (lib.getName pkg) [
    "plexmediaserver"
  ];

  services.plex = {
    enable = true;
    openFirewall = true;
  };

which seems to work fine, or at least I can open the web client at http://172.30.0.106:32400 (with 172.30.0.106 being the NixOS host lan IP).

I’ve already removed the macOS server (even though would be nice to be able to keep both but from my understanding Plex at the moment really supports only a single server per lan, correct me if I’m wrong). I log into plex via the new server at http://172.30.0.106:32400 and log into correctly BUT there’s no server showing up to be configured at all (I’d expect to be able to add media folders and so on).

I’ve followed both https://support.plex.tv/articles/204604227-why-can-t-the-plex-app-find-or-connect-to-my-plex-media-server/ trying to troubleshoot but won’t help (by the way it mentions “Verify that your Server is listed on your Devices page” which seems odd to me, my understanding is that Devices are really clients and not servers in the Plex context, correct me if I’m missing something but e.g. I couldn’t see the macOS media server popping up there even when it was still registered correctly, now just shows the web clients I expect to see).

I’ve enabled debugging logs but the only error without context I can spot is

MyPlex: Error 401 requesting JSON from: https://plex.tv/api/v2/server/users/features
FeatureManager: Couldn’t get features. Trying again soon.

and I’m not sure if/how it’s supposed to be related. Ideas?

2

I have no fewer than five Plex Media Servers on my LAN currently, for reasons. There is no issue at all with running multiple PMSs on a single LAN.

What is the IP address of the system you’re using to try to log into the server (the client system)? For initial claiming, it must be on the same RFC-1918 network.

Also, just for the sake of mentioning it, Plex Media Server is only officially supported (natively) on two Linux distributions (well, four if you count the duplicates):

  • Ubuntu/Debian
  • Fedora/Centos

NixOS is definitely a completely different beast, given its goals. I wouldn’t expect much official support on this.

Docker is always an option as well.

1 Like
4

there is no issue at all with running multiple PMSs on a single LAN.

Cool, thanks for clarifying that, I suspected that from the troubleshooting article suggesting to log off everything I guess, or read on an old thread, whatever.

What is the IP address of the system you’re using to try to log into the server

It’s on the same home LAN (all wired via eth switches, no wifi involved), browser I use to log in is on a host with IP 172.30.0.235/24, they all get the IPs from the home router and for the server one it’s bound to the MAC address so to be all the time the same (I actually use my domain to reach it, eq.l3x.in, so the web app actually loads http://eq.l3x.in:32400/web/index.html#!/ )

Fair remark about the lack of support for NixOS, I still thought it might be worth a shot here, at least to verify I’m theoretically doing everything correctly from a Plex point of view.

Forgot to ask: is the Docker installation officially supported?

5

Yes, it is. Plex provides an official image; instructions for using it can be found here:

I use it for one of my servers (via Docker Compose) and it works just fine). Just be aware that you likely want to use the “host” network driver. Otherwise you need to jump through some additional hoops.

1 Like
6

We would need the server logs to provide more information. but typically its a DNS issue in these cases. But cant know for certain without the logs

7

plex.log (3.0 MB)

Dec 01 18:14:37 eq PlexMediaServer[6243]: [HCl#5] HTTP requesting POST ``https://plex.tv/devices/e610bdd1debab2dfa4fc9e67848ef527078d89b3/unclaimed?Connection[][uri]=http://172.30.0.106:32400 seems related, I can’t see it in the devices list though.

Request came in with unrecognized domain / IP 'eq.l3x.in' in header Host; treating as non-local looks weird to me, it’s the FQDN of the host:

[root@eq:~]# hostname -f
eq.l3x.in

8

For the initial login and claim process, you must access the server via its bare IP, from the local network. Accessing it via your FQDN will not work for this. After it is claimed you can likely do this (with an appropriate certificate installed).

Use the following for the initial login and claim:
http://172.30.0.106:32400/web

(Check /var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/ for a file named Preferences.xml. If it exists, move it aside and then restart PMS and try logging in via the link above to claim the server properly.)

1 Like
9

Not only do you need to use the direct IP you need to be on the same subnet too.

10

That did the trick :tada:

Tbh that looks like a bug to me but I guess there might be reasons so now that I know it’s not a big deal.

Thanks a lot to everyone who took the time to help out.

1 Like
11

You’re welcome, glad you got it working!

It’s positioned as a security measure. The idea is that nobody can claim your server but you, since it requires local network access initially. It can be inconvenient though.

12

That’s fair, what’s buggy imo is the UI, Plex should be able to catch the event (user trying to register with FQDN instead of IP) and tell the user about it, or at least mark the condition as error in the logs. As it is now it’s simply failing silently. Just my 2 cents.

13

I think that’s actually a good idea, TBH. Something like “You appear to be accessing a new server from a non-local address. To claim this server, access via http://[local ip address}:32400/web from a device on the same LAN.”

14

Yes exactly, so to avoid the kind of confusion I got into, which I guess might not be that unique. Should I file a ticket somewhere?

15

You could post a feature suggestion here:
https://forums.plex.tv/tags/c/feature-suggestions/8/server-linux

Though you may want to search a bit first to ensure nothing similar has been suggested (I don’t think there has, but I’ve not done more than a cursory search).

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